Social Security: Paul Krugman is back, and besides the first in a series of editorials on the subject, he also has an interesting article out debunking the plan to "reform" (we need to destroy in order to save) Social Security.
Medical Malpractice Reform: President Bush and company likes to target those nasty trial lawyers, who apparently are a grand threat to all sorts of businesses, especially doctors. One can go after the few bad seeds, but let's look at the first pick of today's "giving the press credit when they do a good job" award:
But the Budget Office also reported, in January 2003, that malpractice costs were less than 2 percent of overall health care spending and that even a 30 percent reduction in malpractice costs would lower health care spending by less than 0.5 percent. ...
But others who follow medical-malpractice cases say the situation is hardly as clear-cut as Mr. Bush has made it out to be. The Consumer Federation of America, for instance, has argued that the insurance industry's business practices are a big part of the reason for higher premiums.
Politically, Mr. Bush has had little to lose by attacking trial lawyers, as he did often during the campaign. They traditionally have been big supporters of the Democratic Party, and a onetime prominent trial lawyer, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, opposed the Bush-Cheney ticket in the last election as Senator John Kerry's running mate. ...
Independent analyses suggested that the president's cost estimates were exaggerated, and the actual size of malpractice awards is impossible to calculate, since so many suits are settled before they reach trial. The Congressional Budget Office reports that 15 claims are filed for every 100 doctors each year and that about a third of the claims result in an insurance payment.
Alberto Gonzales: Washington Post has an extended article on Attorney General designee Alberto Gonzales.
War On Terror: The NY Review of Books provides a discussion of "The Truth About Terrorism."
Sigh. No wonder the anti-Bush publishing is a growing cottage industry.